Application

Late at night, the restaurant that had been busy all evening finally quieted down. Huo Ling packed up some of the better-looking leftover meat dishes, intending to take them home.

His parents' meager wages did not allow the family to eat meat every day. After washing these meat dishes left over by customers and stir-frying them again, they could at least give his younger brothers a bit of a treat and supplement their nutrition.

By the time Huo Ling returned home, it was already past eleven. His parents had not gone to bed yet and were sitting in the cramped living room.

Hearing Huo Ling open the door, his mother hurriedly stood up and lightly patted his clothes, trying to brush off the little dust there was.

She casually took the packed food from him and turned to the kitchen to wash it.

Huo Liren motioned for Huo Ling to sit down.

"Did your teacher hand out the application forms today?"

"Yes, Dad. Here it is."

Huo Ling took out the application form. He had already filled it out; only a parent's signature was needed before it could be submitted.

Huo Liren took the form and silently looked over the densely packed words.

Then he lit a cigarette and took a long drag.

"Have you thought it through?"

"I have!" Huo Ling nodded heavily.

Through the drifting smoke, Huo Ling saw his father's hand trembling slightly. Clearly, he was far from calm.

"Good! That's my son. I believe you'll definitely succeed in awakening your spirit!"

Huo Liren placed a large hand on Huo Ling's shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"Alright, it's late. Hurry up, wash up and get some rest!"

Huo Ling returned to his room, quickly washed up, and prepared to get some sleep. He still had to get up early tomorrow.

After lying down in bed, he could vaguely hear his mother sobbing softly.

Spirit awakening was not safe. On the contrary, it had an extremely high mortality rate.

Out of ten people who underwent spirit awakening, at least three or four would die. Of those who survived, only one or two would successfully awaken and gain extraordinary physiques.

Spirit awakening was a gamble with one's life, especially for children from poor families.

Yet it was also the only chance for the poor to turn their lives around. Success meant leaping through the Dragon Gate; failure meant the end of everything.

His parents' worries were understandable, but they did not want their concerns to affect their child.

Huo Ling pursed his lips and slowly exhaled. He gathered his thoughts and closed his eyes. He needed to stay in good condition for what came next.

Early the next morning, Huo Ling arrived at school. As the homeroom teacher entered the classroom, the students' application forms were collected.

The homeroom teacher stood at the podium, solemnly reviewing the forms one by one and dividing them into two groups.

After a while, the teacher looked up.

"Students, I've read your application forms. I'm pleased that more than forty students in our class have chosen to participate in spirit awakening. Let's give them a round of applause!"

Applause rang through the classroom. Some students were flushed with excitement; they were the ones who had submitted applications. Others wore awkward expressions; they were the ones who had not.

There were more than ninety students in Huo Ling's class. This time, nearly half of them would undergo spirit awakening, which was not a low proportion.

"Alright, students participating in spirit awakening, stand up and come with me. Everyone else, remain in your seats."

The homeroom teacher clapped his hands.

Then he led the students who had stood up out of the classroom.

As they faced parting, some students felt reluctant, but they still followed the homeroom teacher out with firm resolve.

Soon, under the teacher's guidance, they arrived at a new classroom.

This would be Huo Ling's new classroom after the class division.

Here, they would study new knowledge and make a final push for the coming spirit awakening.

Their curriculum now included basic Spirit Realm knowledge as a core subject, along with physical training and wilderness hiding as supplementary subjects.

The students who remained in the original class would have these courses removed and replaced with other subjects.

Spirit awakening was both simple and complicated.

The simple part was that once these students came into contact with the aura of the Spirit Realm, they would soon be infected by it.

Then the Spirit Realm would actively open a dimensional rift and swallow them into the Spirit Realm.

The complicated part lay there. Traveling from Blue Star to the Spirit Realm across endless space was filled with accidents, and some people would die in the spatial passage.

And arriving in the Spirit Realm did not mean safety. Every newcomer's landing location was random.

They might land in a resource-rich area, where high-level resources and treasures were everywhere, allowing them to make a fortune.

Or they might land somewhere dangerous, with perilous Spirit Realm creatures right beside them the moment they arrived. In that case, they were as good as dead.

Some particularly unlucky people were even transported into soil, rock, or volcanic craters, dying the instant they arrived.

This was also one of the reasons spirit awakening's casualty rate remained so high.

The classes Huo Ling and the others would take next were meant to cram them full of more Spirit Realm survival knowledge and increase their chances of staying alive.

Although they would begin learning all kinds of knowledge about the Spirit Realm now, there was only so much they could remember and master. They could only learn some general knowledge.

Besides knowledge, there was also physical training.

Going to the Spirit Realm did not mean they could immediately return to Blue Star.

Ordinary people generally had to survive in the Spirit Realm for three to seven days before they could return to Blue Star, making survival during that time especially important.

Physical fitness was indispensable. Unless they were transported somewhere certain to kill them, these students needed to find a safe place and preserve their lives.

The Spirit Realm contained countless kinds of creatures.

There was a widely circulated saying on Blue Star.

"Even Blue Star's most vicious murderer is kinder than the friendliest elf in the Spirit Realm!"

In the Spirit Realm, death sometimes did not mean the end. Many things were far more terrifying than death.

To some Spirit Realm creatures, souls were no more than toys. Torturing one's body and soul could bring them pleasure.

This was even more true for teenagers undergoing spirit awakening. Their fragile bodies had far too many things in the Spirit Realm that were stronger than them.

Over the following months, Huo Ling and his classmates began intense, nerve-racking studies. They were crammed like ducks, their heads stuffed full of all kinds of Spirit Realm knowledge.

Morning classes were devoted to learning knowledge, while afternoons were for physical training.

They trained their bodies through long-distance running, sprints, and combat practice, constantly improving their physical fitness and fighting ability.

During this period, Huo Ling did not even go to his part-time job. The food in the school cafeteria gave him the nutrition he needed.

His body was like a sponge, continuously absorbing all kinds of knowledge and nourishment from food.